With more than a little trepidation, each student handed over his or her cellphone — passcode unlocked, screen set to their personal Instagram, Twitter or Facebook feed — to a neighboring student, who sat ready to pass judgment on their most recent posts. A feeling of vulnerability hung heavy in the air as the neighbors called out words that described their classmates, as expressed through their social media personas: enthusiastic, athletic, family-minded, smart.

The exercise was initiated by Duke track and field athletes Megan Clark and Maddy Price as part of the first meeting of Durham Academy's new Breakfast of Champions student-athlete leadership series on Nov. 17. Read More

Art history students learn from

'stickwork' artist Patrick Dougherty

Durham Academy senior Veronica Kim writes about the AP Art History class's visit to artist Patrick Dougherty's installation-in-progress in Hillsborough. Temporarily entitled "Pleasure Dome," the work is a central dome surrounded by five smaller towers with window openings, constructed entirely of sticks. Read More

Faculty Spotlight: Spanish teacher

Mercedes Almodovar

Lower School Spanish teacher Mercedes Almodovar knows how her students feel when she speaks to them in Spanish and they don't understand. "I try to put myself in their shoes because I was in that position before."

She studied English from the time she was a kindergartner in San Juan, Puerto Rico, through her graduation from the University of Puerto Rico with a degree in foreign language, but that didn’t prepare her for the English she heard as a young bride in Jacksonville, North Carolina. Read More